Steel chips

Today's CNC machines have built in chip removal systems that allow the operators freedom from having to deal with the nuisance of removing them by hand. A chip conveyor is installed in all the new equipment and removes chips out of the machine into what ever you use to catch these chips. Back in the old days the machines were not equipped with these conveyors. The operators had to use brooms and shovels to clean off the machines and shovel the chips into a hopper. I remember when ever I ran a horizontal boring mill there would be times I had to stand on a pile of chips to operate the machine. When the pile got so high I would start shoveling them into the hopper.Of course back in those days it would be common place to buy a new pair of shoes every other month. Fortunately the company I worked for at the time helped with purchasing new shoes. The more I look back on how things used to be in the machine shops and how things are now makes we wonder where technology will be at in the next 50 years.